Privatizing CU?
Monday, August 4, 2008Written by: Pol Econ Ed
There was a kind of remarkable story this week, buried beneath CSAPs and the mounting DNC coverage.
The Denver Post reported that CU raised $162 million in private contributions this past year, a new record. At 6.8% of CU’s $2.4 billion annual budget, this amount is coming close to the 8.8% of operating budget that comes from state support for CU.
Now, of course the private contributions are mostly for buildings and endowment funds, rather than annual operations, so the comparison is not totally “apples to apples.”
But, the percentage of support from annual private giving may soon surpass state contributions, especially if Referendum C expires in 2010/11 without some other solution to the state budget constraint problem That would mark another milestone for the state’s flagship and largest institution, still directed by an elected board of regents from across the state, becoming more private, in reality, than public.
Do we want that?
